


Let It Be

by coffee666



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gem War, Headcanon, Pre-Canon, Pre-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 09:32:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8200169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffee666/pseuds/coffee666
Summary: Aventurine and Aventurine fused often on Homeworld. It was exhilarating. Only after joining the rebellion did they realize what they felt for each other was love. After the corruption, they were known as the Geode Beetles of Heaven and Earth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've always thought the Beetles were in love. Also, there's some debate on what gem they are, but I went with Aventurine. 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @frappuccinio

Yellow Diamond’s Aventurine was what one might call a dork.

She stood ramrod straight, her back to the solid white marble pillar just outside the throne room. The pillar on the opposite side of the door was meant for the other one.

Blue Diamond’s Aventurine is what one might call graceful.

She padded down the sleek hallway. The Pearl just behind her, and Blue Diamond in the back. The large cloak concealing her face was just like the one her Diamond wore.

Yellow Aventurine stood straight ahead, her clammy hands balled into fists at her side. She tried to keep the green blush off her face, but the exhilaration was so much.

The Pearl and Blue Diamond walked straight past Aventurine and into the throne room. Blue Aventurine took her post on the opposite side of the door in front of the other pillar. When the door closed, they were alone.

These meetings between the two Diamonds was the only time the Aventurines saw one another. Yellow Aventurine reached to the back of her neck and scratched nervously at her gem before summoning her weapon. The staff was good for knocking anyone around who shouldn’t be here, but they was never any trouble.

Blue Aventurine pushed back her long hood, the cloth piling at her shoulder, before turning her dazzling green gaze to the other. Yellow actually blushed again. Blue’s long ripples of dark green hair was so elegant compared to Yellow’s spikey bob.

“How have you been?” Blue asked softly, her hands clasped together at her chest.

“A-alright.” Yellow cleared her throat before continuing. “I, uh, I heard Blue Diamond saw the rebels on Earth?”

“Oh, yes.” Blue’s eyes darkened but her voice stayed serene. “She trusted the small army of Quartzes to take them down, but something went wrong. We lost our Sapphire to the rebels.”

“I’m sorry. I hope you don’t blame yourself.” Yellow nervously tapped her staff against her left palm.

“No, I know even if I had been there, I wouldn’t have been able to stop it. I am agile, but I do not pack much of a punch.” Her elegant grin was more of a smirk now.

“We do, together, though.” Yellow pushed down her nerves. “Would you like to fuse? It might make the Diamond’s feel safer with a stronger gem guarding the door.”

Yellow Aventurine knew it was a lame excuse. There were much stronger gems at every door along the way to the throne room. By the time a threat got to them, fused or not, it would likely be strong enough to destroy them. She just wanted to be with the other gem.

“Yes.” Blue smiled as her cloaked hand reached for Yellow’s. Yellow’s hand trembled only slightly as she took it. With her opposite hand still holding her staff, she gaze a flick of her wrist and the weapon disappeared in a flash of light.

With their hands clasped, their long legs moved on instinct, back and forth. Neither was leading, and their movements were precise without ever being rehearsed. Yellow Aventurine reached around to the back of Blue Aventurine’s neck, past the curtain of hair and felt for her gem. With identical placement to her own, it made her blush to touch it. She felt long fingers to the back of her own neck, and she gasped as their bodies turned to light, and slipped into each other.

In a slight daze, Aventurine stood up tall. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, and with one hand, she pulled it around to feel the back of her neck. Two Aventurine gems lined the back of her neck. She smiled and summoned her staff again, now twice as strong.

She was made of exhilaration in her heart and nerves in her tummy as she stood with her back to the door. No one would get hurt on her watch now.

Her headspace was of two gems in harmony. Her inner peace was punctuated only by light giggles. She jumped and held her staff high when the doors opened and Blue Diamond walked out with her Pearl. She looked to Aventurine and only said. “Come, Aventurine.”

Aventurine’s heart broke as she unfused. Blue Aventurine pushed her cloak back over her head and padded forward to take her place with her Diamond. Only a fleeting look back held Yellow over until next time.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Watch each other’s backs, or you will get shattered. The rebels do not care what you are. They will kill. Do you understand?”

Yellow Aventurine tightened her grip on Blue Aventurine’s hand. As one of the most agile gems, Yellow wondered why it had taken this long for them to be sent to Earth. She’d watched waves of armies head to Homeworld’s galaxy warp.

First it was Jaspers and Amethysts, then it was every Ruby they could find. Earth’s kindergartens were done. The last of them emerged from Beta before the war, and half of them came out wrong. It was strange for Aventurine to think of herself as the last hope.

“Are you listening?” The oldest Aventurine, the Captain, barked. “We are the last wave. Make it count. There isn’t enough time to make more gems, and we are the last fight-fit gems available. Do not make the Diamond’s send their Pearls to do our job. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Captain!” Blue and Yellow said in time with the others. The Captain’s gem was on her forehead, and Yellow briefly wondered if it was White Diamond’s, or just a coincidence. If it was White’s, then they really were at their wits end. Yellow had no idea how they were supposed to win the war.

All of the Aventurines stood on the warp. Yellow and Blue didn’t stop holding hands, not until their feet hit the dewy Earth grass. They fused just then, their hands groping for the other’s gem while attempting to stay chaste.

They were split twice. Once, a Bismuth did it, and ran on, not even bothering to look back at their split forms. The next time, it was the rebel Pearl. Her sword ran through Aventurine’s body, destroying her physical form.

Both times, they’d reformed and reached for one another. Tears pooled at their eyes as their hands clasped together.

“Are you alright?” Blue asked.

“I hate this!” Yellow screamed over the sounds of battle. “I hate this war! I hate that you’re in danger! I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“It’s their orders, my dear.” Blue said softly, and Yellow’s gasp was inaudible over the sounds. Blue had never called her that before. “We must fight, I know we are just guards, but now we are the last hope of stopping the rebellion.”

“Why stop it? Why not let them have this planet? I cannot watch you retreat to your gem once more! It hurts me just as it hurts you.” She saw Blue smiled through the blurry mask of tears.

“Then let us fuse again, and let us hide. When the war is…we will run away.” Blue smiled wickedly. “I will not go back to Blue Diamond.”

“What!?” Yellow swiped at her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve. “What are you talking about?”

“I am not hers. I am yours, my dear.” Blue then did something gems never did. She cupped Yellow Aventurine’s face in her hands and kissed her.

When she opened her eyes, she was fused again. She stood and drew her staff. Determination and something she couldn’t name, filled her belly.

“I will keep you safe, my love.” She said to herself.

That meant poofing everyone that came near her. Her staff struck the chest of Rubies, and ran through the eyes of Celestines. After a while, they looked the same, Homeworld and rebel.

Anything and everything was a threat. She knew she lost all her allegiances when she ran her staff straight through the body of a Jasper. It wasn’t just any Jasper. Pink Diamond’s most loyal follower, the one who felt the war more deeply than any of them. The one who belonged to the Diamond that the war was fought over.

With the staff through her chest and sticking straight out her back, Jasper glared daggers into Aventurine. Fused, they were just as tall.

“What…are you doing!?” She snarled. “Traitor! Don’t you know who you belong to?!”

“We belong to each other!” Aventurine said proudly. She pulled her staff back out, and watched Jasper disappear.

Her adrenaline spiked as she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around and pointed her staff straight between all three eyes of the stranger.

“Stay back!” Aventurine said, her confidence wavering in the face of a new enemy. “Do not hurt her—me!” She quickly corrected herself.

The stranger smiled and held up both hands in surrender, revealing her gems. Aventurine gasped as she saw the cut of Sapphire. She thought Sapphire was shattered.

“You look lost.” The stranger said calmly.

“I am lost.” Aventurine lowered her weapon and stuck the end of her staff deep into the Earth. “I don’t want to fight…I don’t want to be here. I just want her to be safe.”

“There is a place you can be just like this.” The stranger smiled, and gestured to Aventurine. “You can belong only to each other and use your guardian powers to watch each other’s backs.”

“Not Homeworld.” Aventurine pulled her staff from the ground angrily, sending dirt onto her clothes.

“No, not Homeworld. The Earth. That’s what Ruby and Sapphire fight for…love. That’s what Pearl fights for, to be free. You can be free too.”

“How?” Aventurine leaned in, her eyes wide.

“Let’s go find Rose. You’re gonna love being a Crystal Gem.”

There was no mistaking her allegiance now. With Rose’s flag tied to the end of her staff, it whipped and snapped in the wide as her staff spun and struck every Homeworld gem she saw.

When she met with Rose and Pearl, a brief talk made her realize what she should do. Aventurine’s were agile, so it took the combined power of a fusion one to take down the small army of them. The same army she’d arrived with.

The Captain was last. She charged at Aventurine, her own staff drawn. She reared back and threw it. Aventurine’s staff ran through the Captain’s chest just as the Captain’s stuck into her own chest.

She fell apart. And then again. The physical forms of each of the two breaking, leaving just gems behind. The Captain was resilient. She turned and ran, the staff of the rebels still in her chest.

❖ ❖ ❖

Yellow was always the faster reformer. Her gem rose from the ground and her body erupted from it in a flash of light. She wasted no time, she leaned down and picked up Blue’s gem.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Aventurine looked up and scanned the area for the Captain. When she glanced up, she saw blind panic. Gems were running off the battle field in the direction of the ships.

“Aventurine, we did it. Homeworld is retreating!” Yellow said to the gem in her hands. “Come back to me, and we can be together.” The ground shook as a light flashed in the sky. It was blinding, making Aventurine squeeze her eyes shut. “What’s happening!?” She screamed over the chilling sound of a song. “Garnet, where are you!? Rose…Pearl!?”

The music was beautiful, making her skin crawl and her eyes water. She stumbled back, her legs locking up. She fell to her knees and gasped as she felt the gem in her hands start to reform.

The sound sounded in time to the reformation. Small and with empty eyes, Blue reformed into a bug. Yellow screamed as the creature slipped from her fingers and onto the grass again.

“My dear, what happened!?” Aventurine leaned over the creature, the tears from her eyes dropping beside it like rain. “What happened to you!? What’s…what’s happening to me!?”

Her skin crawled as the music blared in her ears. It was coming from everywhere and nowhere. Her skin burned, pulling in and shrinking as strange marks broke out onto it. Her shape shifted and she screamed out one final time into the blazing sky.

❖ ❖ ❖

The humans bowed at the entrance to the temple as they saw her approaching. The Goddess towered over all of them, with hair rippling out behind her like a bed of roses. It had been so long since she last passed through, that they knew it was no coincidence.

The Goddess glided over the spiraling steps as if floating, before finally coming to stand before them.

“Show me what you found.” She said, holding out her hands. The leader of the tribe can forward and placed the Heaven Beetle in her hand.

“We found it just as the sun rose over the hills. We could see the light reflected off the jewel on its back, see?” He turned the bug over onto it’s back and showed her. “Is it…like what you are?”

“Not completely.” She sighed. “Something’s different. Something I cannot fix.”

“May we keep it? We believe it to be a gift from Heaven. It seems to bring something wistful with it…luck, maybe?”

“Is there another? Did you find a second one?” The Goddess asked, somewhat urgently.

“N-no. Just this one.” He beckoned for her to follow him. “Come, I will show you the accommodations.”

The tiny temple on the pond was the perfect size. The leader took the Heaven Beetle and placed it inside. The Goddess leaned down and peered inside the tiny room.

“How is it?” he asked nervously. “You know your kind better than we do...will it like it in there?”

The Goddess was quiet for a moment. Sadness clouded her face and after another sigh, she looked to the human. “Well, of course not. You need more in there for her to be happy.”

“More?” he blinked in surprise. “Like what?”

“Well, a bed for starters! Oh, and some little beetle bongos!”

 ❖ ❖ ❖

Garnet actually gasped at what she was in her future vision for the day. She saw a likely future of herself swimming in a pool of lava. At the very bottom, was the Earth Beetle, the lost Aventurine that she and Rose could never find.

She knew where the Heaven Beetle was. Though the native people were gone, the beetle rested quietly in the temple. She knew corrupted gems couldn’t think like normal gems, but the beetles still belonged together. They belonged to each other.

The most likely future saw Opal returning with the beetle. Though a second future saw Steven facing a corrupted giant bird, Garnet knew she had to risk it. Not just for the beetles, but for Opal. If there was ever the smallest chance the Crystal Gems most forgetful member could emerge, she had to take it. Amethyst and Pearl needed it.

The lava lake was uneventful. There were no monsters, and the only obstacle was the searing heat and pressure. She grabbed the tiny gem and swam to the top.

“You’ve been lost for a while, my friend.” Garnet smiled when she was safely on the mantle. With a flex of her entire body, the flecks of lava flew off, leaving her clean.

She returned to the temple and put the beetle in the tiny plastic terrarium she’d saved for just this occasion. In a flash behind her, the others returned.

“We’re back!” Steven shouted.

“The Heaven Beetle.” Garnet prompted, looking up at Opal expectantly.

“I don’t have it!” Opal realized. With a shudder, her form broke apart, leaving a bickering Pearl and Amethyst behind.

“Wait a sec,” Steven dug into his pocket and pulled out the gem. “I’ve got the beetle!”

“Good job, Steven.”

Garnet took the beetle and put it in the terrarium. She watched as the two Aventurines were finally together again. She bubbled the terrarium and sent it off.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
